Tailpiece for violins, etc.



Sefit. 6, 1949 w. B. STRATON TAILPIECE FOR VIOLINS, ETC

Fild Sept. 10, 1945 Patented Sept. 6, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TAILPIECE FOR VIOLINS, ETC.

Warren B. Straton, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 10, 1945, Serial No. 615,388

1 Claim.

This invention relates to tail pieces for violins, and similar instruments, one of the objects being to provide a tail piece which is adjustable to any position desired relative to the end button commonly provided and according to the various sizes requiring different length tail pieces for octave adjustment.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawing,

Figure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section through a tail piece such as constitutes the present invention, a portion of the violin being indicated by broken lines.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the tail piece.

Figure 3 is an end elevation thereof.

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view showing a modified structure, a portion thereof being broken away.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, I designates the main member of the tail piece which can be of any desired size and shape, and has the usual slotted end 2 for engagement by the strings of the instrument.

The under side of this main member is formed with a longitudinal channel 3. The rear end portion of this channel has flanges 4 extending along opposed sides thereof and projecting toward each other. The other end portion of the channel has opposed series of notches 5 in the walls thereof. Between the flanges 4 and the notches 5 the walls of the channel are straight and parallel and are perpendicular to the bottom of the member I. These straight walls have been indicated at 6 and are spaced apart a distance greater than the distance between the flanges 4 and also greater than the distance between, the notches 5 of opposed series.

There is associated with the main member I an elongated slide 1 formed from a piece of plastic material or the like, and provided at one end with an enlargement 8 having a buttonhole 9 proportioned to receive the usual end button B located on the violin V. The slide 1 is wider than the distance between the flanges 4 and it is provided at that end thereof remote from the enlargement 8, with opposed series of nodes or projections Ill proportioned to flt into selected notches 5.

In practice the slide I is inserted lengthwise into channel 3 between the flanges 4 and the inner wall of the channel. This is clearly indicated in Figures 2 and 3. That end portion of the slide containing the nodes or projections II] and which is of reduced width, so as to be insertable between the series of nodes, is then pressed back into the channel 3 so that certain of the nodes or projections will be seated within the adjacent notches 5.

Thereafter, the enlargement 8 is applied to the button B. Obviously the tail piece can readily be adjusted simply by disengaging the nodes or projections from those notches in which they are seated, moving the slide I forwardly or backwardly to a desired position, then again pressing the bendable slide back into the channel to place certain of the nodes or projections in the adjacent notches.

It is to be understood, of course, that instead of having a slide and a channel shaped as illustrated and described, the adjustment might be effected by screw threading the slide so that it would have the appearance of a bolt and feeding this bolt-like slide through a nut rotatably mounted in the tail piece, rotation of the nut resulting in moving the slide in the direction of its length. Such a structure has been illustrated in Figure 4, wherein a bolt-like slide having a screw threaded portion has been indicated at I0 and is engaged by a thumb nut l I rotatably mounted in the main member I2 of the tail piece.

In this modified structure, the main member I2 is formed with a longitudinal bore I3, that extends from the rear end of the main member, as shown at I4, to one end of a longitudinal slot I5, that is formed in the bottom of the main member I2. Intermediate its ends, the slot I5 is widened transversely for the reception of the thumb nut II, as is clearly shown by Figure 4, and it is understood that the slot would also be curvingly deepened at this point correspondingly with the curvature of the nut, so that the nut may be freely rotated. The bolt-like slide is slidable in the bore I3, and is adjustably moved forwardly or rearwardly through engagement of its threaded portion ID by the thumb nut II. The slide is formed of any suitable material of rigid qualities. At its end remote from its threaded portion III, it is provided with the usual enlargement formed with a button-hole that receives the end button B of a violin V.

4 able by the threaded portion, the thumb nut b= ing positioned in said transversely widened portion of the groove.

WARREN B. STRATON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

sTA'rEs PATENTS Number Name Date 300,149 Smith June 10, 1884 375,1710 Lorenz Dec. 27, 1887 1,791,977 Seckendorf Feb. 10, 1931 

